Cyclone Mandous: Tamil Nadu undergoes traffic turmoil, waterlogging, and blackouts; 4 people reported dead

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• Dec 10, 2022 | Poonam Nath

Cyclone Mandous has wreaked havoc on twelve districts in Tamil Nadu, as well as parts of Puducherry and Andhra Pradesh...

Digital Desk: Cyclonic Storm Mandous wreaked havoc along India's southeast coast, invading the area with powerful gusts and up to extraordinarily heavy downpours from late Friday night to early Saturday morning. 

The hurricane made landfall at Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu between 11:30 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. last night. It generated howling winds of 65-75 kph with gusts as high as 85 kph at the time. These harsh temperatures kept Chennai people up, reminding them of nature's unrivalled wrath.

Four people have perished in Tamil Nadu as a result of Cyclone Mandous' late-night Friday landfall with gusts of 75 kilometres per hour along the coast. The cyclone has weakened and is now in a deep depression. 

Overflowing rivers, waterlogged streets, and disrupted traffic plague Kovanur, Thimmasamudram, and Rajula Kandiga in Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor due to the region's excessive rainfall.

Up to 115 mm of rain fell in Chennai. According to Chief Minister M K Stalin, as the weather system approached the coast between December 9 and 10, winds of 70 kmph damaged about 400 trees in Chennai. 

Boats have been wrecked in Kovalam, which is adjacent to Mamallapuram, along with shops along the seashore. 

"Shop tin roofs have been blown apart. Fisheries and revenue officials are investigating boat damage " stated Shobana Thangam, President of the Kovalam Village Panchayat.

Because of extreme precipitation, 13 domestic and three international flights were cancelled at Chennai International Airport prior to the landfall. 

With gusts ranging from 89 to 117 km/h, it was formerly classified as a "Severe Cyclonic Storm," the fourth-highest intensity category on the scale. It has since been downgraded to a "Cyclonic Storm," with gusts ranging from 62 to 88 km/h. 

The Tamil Nadu government has opened over 5,000 relief centres and has National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams stationed in ten districts. In the Chengalpattu district alone, 28 such centres now house 1,058 people.